International Academy - LEAP
Encyclopedia
International Academy - LEAP (IA-LEAP) is an Area Learning Center (ALC) high school for English Language Learners
(ELL) that is part of the Saint Paul Public Schools
system in Saint Paul
, Minnesota
. It was founded in Fall of 1994 by Jeff Dufresne and Sandra Hall as a high school for newly arrived immigrants to the city of Saint Paul. Its student body is 100% immigrant and range in ages from 14 to 21. Its present principal is Rose Santos who has held this office since 2003.
refugee camp in Thailand
, the name was changed to reflect a more clear image and mission of the school.
The original location of the school was on the 4th floor of the 494 Sibley Avenue building in Saint Paul. In August 2003 the school was moved to its present location of 631 Albert Street North, where it shared the building with the students and staff of the Wilson Middle School. During the summer of 2004, with the anticipation of new students arriving to Saint Paul, IA-LEAP was allowed to take over the entire building and, for unrelated reasons, the middle school component was closed.
This building was named after the United States President Woodrow Wilson
and dates back to 1924. Originally, the building was called Woodrow Wilson Junior High School, and has since changed its name several times, such as Wilson High School, Wilson Elementary, Expo Middle School, and variations of the same theme. Under Federal law, any building named after a president can not be changed or the building defaced without the consent of the Secretary of the Interior, or an act of Congress.
Because of this obstacle, the building will remain "the Wilson building" regardless of the different school name involved. Mail deliveries have been made to either school name.
The present student population is approximately 65% Hmong
, with the rest of the student representing the Somali
, Latino, Liberia
n, Karen
, Laotian
, Sudan
ese, Oromo
, Amhara
, Filipino
, Vietnamese
, Latvian, Chinese
, Romanian, Arab
(United Arab Emirates
) and other communities.
ESL
ESL is a common abbreviation for English as a Second Language, see English language learning and teaching.ESL may also refer to:-Companies:...
(ELL) that is part of the Saint Paul Public Schools
Saint Paul Public Schools
Saint Paul Public Schools is a school district that covers all of the city of Saint Paul, Minnesota.Saint Paul supports a robust network of publicly-funded primary and secondary schools....
system in Saint Paul
Saint Paul, Minnesota
Saint Paul is the capital and second-most populous city of the U.S. state of Minnesota. The city lies mostly on the east bank of the Mississippi River in the area surrounding its point of confluence with the Minnesota River, and adjoins Minneapolis, the state's largest city...
, Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
. It was founded in Fall of 1994 by Jeff Dufresne and Sandra Hall as a high school for newly arrived immigrants to the city of Saint Paul. Its student body is 100% immigrant and range in ages from 14 to 21. Its present principal is Rose Santos who has held this office since 2003.
History
"LEAP" stands for Limited English Achievement Program and from 1994 to 2005, LEAP school was known as LEAP English Academy. However, with the influx of new immigrants from the Wat Tham KrabokWat Tham Krabok
Wat Tham Krabok is a Buddhist temple in Thailand, located in the Phra Phutthabat district of Saraburi Province.The temple was first established as a monastery in 1958 by the Buddhist nun Mae Chee Boonruen. It was upgraded to temple status 17 years later, in 1975...
refugee camp in Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
, the name was changed to reflect a more clear image and mission of the school.
The original location of the school was on the 4th floor of the 494 Sibley Avenue building in Saint Paul. In August 2003 the school was moved to its present location of 631 Albert Street North, where it shared the building with the students and staff of the Wilson Middle School. During the summer of 2004, with the anticipation of new students arriving to Saint Paul, IA-LEAP was allowed to take over the entire building and, for unrelated reasons, the middle school component was closed.
This building was named after the United States President Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
and dates back to 1924. Originally, the building was called Woodrow Wilson Junior High School, and has since changed its name several times, such as Wilson High School, Wilson Elementary, Expo Middle School, and variations of the same theme. Under Federal law, any building named after a president can not be changed or the building defaced without the consent of the Secretary of the Interior, or an act of Congress.
Because of this obstacle, the building will remain "the Wilson building" regardless of the different school name involved. Mail deliveries have been made to either school name.
Mission and student body
IA-LEAP serves students who are newly arrived immigrants to the United States and have a limited understanding of the English language. But for these students who are pursuing their high school diploma, there is the additional problem of not understanding the background knowledge of a core subject that they would have learned had they been in an American educational system in their early years. Such core subject areas could be, United States and World history, science, economics, mathematics, etc, which may have had a different focus, or even not taught at all in their home countries. IA-LEAP school focuses on not only the teaching of English, but also at the same time teaching these core subjects in preparation for their high school diploma.The present student population is approximately 65% Hmong
Hmong people
The Hmong , are an Asian ethnic group from the mountainous regions of China, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand. Hmong are also one of the sub-groups of the Miao ethnicity in southern China...
, with the rest of the student representing the Somali
Somali people
Somalis are an ethnic group located in the Horn of Africa, also known as the Somali Peninsula. The overwhelming majority of Somalis speak the Somali language, which is part of the Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family...
, Latino, Liberia
Liberia
Liberia , officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Sierra Leone on the west, Guinea on the north and Côte d'Ivoire on the east. Liberia's coastline is composed of mostly mangrove forests while the more sparsely populated inland consists of forests that open...
n, Karen
Karen people
The Karen or Kayin people , are a Sino-Tibetan language speaking ethnic group which resides primarily in southern and southeastern Burma . The Karen make up approximately 7 percent of the total Burmese population of approximately 50 million people...
, Laotian
Lao people
The Lao are an ethnic subgroup of Tai/Dai in Southeast Asia.-Names:The etymology of the word Lao is uncertain, although it may be related to tribes known as the Ai Lao who appear in Han Dynasty records in China and Vietnam as a people of what is now Yunan Province...
, Sudan
Sudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
ese, Oromo
Oromo people
The Oromo are an ethnic group found in Ethiopia, northern Kenya, .and parts of Somalia. With 30 million members, they constitute the single largest ethnic group in Ethiopia and approximately 34.49% of the population according to the 2007 census...
, Amhara
Amhara people
Amhara are a highland people inhabiting the Northwestern highlands of Ethiopia. Numbering about 19.8 million people, they comprise 26% of the country's population, according to the 2007 national census...
, Filipino
Filipino people
The Filipino people or Filipinos are an Austronesian ethnic group native to the islands of the Philippines. There are about 92 million Filipinos in the Philippines, and about 11 million living outside the Philippines ....
, Vietnamese
Vietnamese people
The Vietnamese people are an ethnic group originating from present-day northern Vietnam and southern China. They are the majority ethnic group of Vietnam, comprising 86% of the population as of the 1999 census, and are officially known as Kinh to distinguish them from other ethnic groups in Vietnam...
, Latvian, Chinese
Han Chinese
Han Chinese are an ethnic group native to China and are the largest single ethnic group in the world.Han Chinese constitute about 92% of the population of the People's Republic of China , 98% of the population of the Republic of China , 78% of the population of Singapore, and about 20% of the...
, Romanian, Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
(United Arab Emirates
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates, abbreviated as the UAE, or shortened to "the Emirates", is a state situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman, and Saudi Arabia, and sharing sea borders with Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Iran.The UAE is a...
) and other communities.
Additional links
- Students' Home Page of IA-LEAP School. St. Paul Public School System. http://www.leap.spps.org/LEAP. Retrieved on 2007-10-06.